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Memory for the time associated with past events is critical for our understanding of episodic memory and its development. Relatively little is known about the factors that influence temporal memory development. One such factor examined in the literature is semantic knowledge for time (conventional time knowledge; CTK). Other possible factors include domain general skills (e.g., working memory). The goals of this study were to a) assess temporal memory for past events in middle to late childhood using a naturalistic, yet controlled task, b) examine the relation between temporal memory performance and CTK, c) examine the factors that support the development of conventional time knowledge, and d) test which factors best predict temporal memory performance. Participants included 7-year-olds, 9-year-olds, 11-year-olds and young adults (N = 140). They engaged in naturalistic events in unique locations in the lab over a span of 2-3 hours. One week later, participants were asked to place the events on an arbitrary timeline, and we measured deviations from the precise time that each event took place. Performance on the CTK task, but not age, contributed unique variance to accuracy in the timeline task, replicating findings from previous work. Further, vocabulary and working memory but not inhibitory control or age, were unique predictors of performance on the CTK task. Finally, vocabulary surpassed CTK task performance as a significant predictor of temporal memory. The implications of this work to our understanding of temporal memory, semantic knowledge for time and episodic memory development are discussed.

Episodic prospection is the ability to mentally simulate personal future events that are rich in contextual detail and plausible for the individual. It therefore incorporates episodic information (who, what, where, and when of a particular event), as well as details about one's self (e.g., knowledge, goals, motivations and desires). The ability to mentally simulate personal future events is thought to serve an adaptive purpose as it allows the individual to plan actions that align with his or her future goals and challenges. This review seeks to integrate research exploring how changes in episodic memory and self-concept, and their associated neural mechanisms, contribute to the development of episodic prospection between childhood and adolescence. Elucidating the mechanisms contributing to this development is critical for understanding its potential influence on learning, goal achievement, and pedagogy between childhood and adolescence.

The examination of children's ability to simulate their future has gained increased attention, and recent discoveries highlight limitations in this ability that extend into adolescence. We propose an account for this protracted developmental trajectory, which encompasses consideration of retrieval flexibility across timescales and self-knowledge. We also identify avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Episodic memory improves during childhood and this improvement has been associated with age differences in hippocampal function, but previous research has not manipulated the possible underlying mechanisms. We tested the hypothesis that age-related differences in hippocampal activation may reflect changes in retrieval flexibility. We expected these activation differences to be observed most prominently in the anterior hippocampus. Functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fMRI) data were collected from children ages 8 and 10, and adults ( N = 63) during an associative recognition task that required participants to recognize pairs of pictures which either appeared in the same location as during encoding (Same location), or in a flipped location, such that each picture switched their location with the other member of the pair (Flipped location). Recognition of same-location pairs placed lower demands on flexible retrieval compared to recognition of flipped-location pairs. Behaviorally, 8-year-olds exhibited the strongest correct recognition gains for same-location compared to flipped-location pairs, and females unexpectedly outperformed males across all ages. When we examined correct recognition, adults recruited the hippocampal head more strongly for flipped- versus same-location pairs compared to both groups of children; in contrast both adults and 10-year-olds recruited the hippocampal tail more strongly for flipped- versus same-location pairs compared to 8-year-olds. This pattern was stronger in the left hippocampus and for females. Moreover hippocampal discrimination between recognized and forgotten items in the same-location condition was stronger in 8-year-olds compared to adults, and was stronger in the flipped-location condition in adults compared to 8-year-olds; this pattern was stronger in the left hippocampus. Individual differences in this discrimination contrast for flipped-location trials in the head and body predicted performance on an index of creative thinking. Overall, these results lend new support to the idea that hippocampal development may reflect change in retrieval flexibility with implications for additional forms of flexible cognition. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Examined relationship of prospection and episodic memory across middle childhood. [•] Found similarities and differences in their associated phenomenological experiences. [•] Individual differences in past event episodicity predicted prospection. [•] Yet prospection developed more slowly than episodic memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]